L EWIS C. LAYLIN, Secretary of State, was born in Norwalk, high school in 1867. In 1869 he was elected to the superintendency of the Bellevue public schools, to which position he was unanimously re-elected for six successive years. He began the study of law, and was admitted to the bar March 13, 1876. He was city clerk of Norwalk two years; a member of the Huron county board of school examiners twelve years; and president of the Norwalk city board of examiners three years. In 1879 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Huron county, and held that office seven years. He was elected to the State Legislature in 1887, and served in the House of the 68th General Assembly. In 1889 he was re-elected representative, and served through the 69th General Assembly. He was the choice of his Republican colleagues in the House for the speakership, and received the unanimous support of the Republican minority. In 1891 he was unanimously renominated by the Republicans of Huron county for representative, and was again re-elected. On January 4, 1892, he was chosen speaker of the House of Representatives of the 70th General Assembly. On April 25, 1900, at the state convention of the Republican party he was nominated by acclamation as the candidate of his party for the office of Secretary of State, and at the following November election he was elected to that office by a plurality of 69.311 votes. On January 14, 1901, he entered upon the discharge of his duties for the full term of two years to which he had been elected. The Secretary of State. The Department of State is one of the most important divisions of the executive branch of the state government. Under the Constitution of 1802, the Secretary of State was appointed by the General Assembly, and the duties of the office consisted mainly, to use the words of the old Constitution, in keeping a "register of all official acts and proceedings of the Governor." The office, however, under the Constitution of 1851, was made elective, and elevated to the dignity of a department; and by virtue of that constitution and subsequent legislation thereunder, some of the most. important executive and administrative functions of the state government are devolved upon this office. The Secretary of State is made by law the custodian of the acts of the General Assembly, and under his supervision the same are printed and published, and by him all exemplifications of the same are required to be authenticated, and all commissions issued by the Governor to be countersigned. In this office also, under general statutes, all incorporations are required to be created. Recent legislation, imposing upon domestic and foreign corporations taxation, or privilege fees based upon capital stock, which the Secretary of State is required to collect and pay into the state treasury, makes this department one of great consequence and importance to the state. The Secretary of State, by virtue of his office, is a member and the secretary of the State Sinking Fund Commissioners, president of the Board of Printing Commissioners, member of the Decennial Board of The Secretary of State. Apportionment for legislative purposes, and of the State Building Commission. He is also, by virtue of his office, made State Supervisor of Elections, and as such has the power of appointment and removal of the members of the various boards of Deputy Supervisors of Elections in the various counties, is required to collate and publish the election laws of the state, CHARLES KINNEY, Secretary of State. (Retired Jan. 14, 1901.) to determine the arrangement of the ballot, and prepare and furnish forms and instructions to the various county boards of elections, to receive and file certificates of nominations, or nomination papers for presidential electors and state officers, to hear and determine objections or other questions as to the validity of said papers, to decide upon the validity of all nomination papers of a county, district, sub-division of the district, or circuit, when the county, district or circuit board, authorized to pass upon these papers, fail to decide, and a decision of the Secretary The Secretary of State. FORMER SECRETARIES OF STATE. The incumbents of the office under the old territory and since the organization of the state government were as follows: A glance at the above list of former Secretaries of State reveals the names of several who have not only attained distinction in public life, and in the world of letters, as in the case of William Henry Harrison, The Secretary of State. President of the United States, and William Henry Smith, a well known literateur and founder of the Associated Press, but of others as well, who have held important national positions. As has been said, the office is one of dignity and importance, and in rank second only to that of Governor. |